How Consultant-Athletes Balance Writing Center Shifts and Their Athletic Schedule

College athletes face the challenge of managing demanding sports schedules while excelling academically. For many, working in the writing center adds an extra layer of complexity. Balancing writing center shits with sports requires effective time management, flexibility and support from both academic and athletic communities. 

Being a student-athlete means juggling hours of practice, games, and travel while maintaining academic success. Working in the writing center can be a key part of many athletes' academic lives, as it helps build communication and critical thinking skills. However, balancing these responsibilities can be overwhelming at times. 

Time conflict is the major issue among consultant-athletes. At a DIII level, sports are still taken super seriously and practice is six days a week for most athletes during season. These practice schedules, plus games and travel often clash with writing center shifts, creating an immense amount of stress. Consultant-athletes also have team lifting and conditioning on top of their sport's practice time which can require them to get up as early as 5:00am for those workouts. A lot of mental and physical exhaustion from sports can affect how well consultant-athletes present themselves to be able to help writers which can add pressure to perform well not just in their sport but also their job. Not to mention having to handle academic stressors and staying on top of classwork. This can lead to burnout. 

The writing center staff is fortunate to be close-nit in the sense that when conflict arises in one's schedule, all they need to do is email the whole staff asking for a someone to cover their shift, and usually within ten minutes, someone will reply saying they can cover it. Jane, the writing center supervisor, is also very willing to work with consultant athletes who feel their hours are unmanageable. A unique thing about the writing center is consultants do not have to work the same schedule all year long. Consultant-athletes can adjust their hours, working more during the off-season and less when in-season, to balance their sports schedule.

Let's look at some testimonials of consultant athletes and how they manage their dual responsibilities:  

Sophomore, Ashton Proctor, is a triple major and is on the soccer team. Find out more info on Coe's Women's Soccer team: https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/womens-soccer/schedule

"With my accounting classes, I always try to schedule my writing center shifts during the school day since my practice is at night. I stay on top of my emails to cover shifts when others can't work. I'm good at finding covers for game days, and I avoid working weekends since that's when most of our games take place."

Freshman, Jenna Rieder, is a Kinesiology major and is on the bowling team. Find out more info on Coe's bowling team: https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/womens-bowling

                                                             

"When preparing for tournaments, I plan ahead by scheduling my shifts during the week and avoiding weekends and Fridays, which are typically busy with competitions. I also learned from last semester, my shifts conflicted with my team workouts so this semester I adjusted my hours. I have found this semester that I prefer working in smaller time blocks instead of one large shift where I knock out all my hours for the week. It's all about being flexible and adjusting to what works best."    

I myself am a Business major and am the only freshman on the golf team. Find out more info on Coe's Women's Golf team: https://kohawkathletics.com/sports/womens-golf/schedule

"Golf is a sport that demands a lot of time, especially since my season begins before school starts. To balance my writing center shifts, I actually don't work during my golf season. When my season is over, I work with Jane to change my schedule and work up to 11 hours a week to make up the time. Even though working so many hours isn't fun, it allows me to meet my maximum hour requirement for the fellowship one week before spring break, which leaves me stress-free when I come back after break straight into spring golf season and don't need to worry about making up any more shifts." 

Balancing writing center shifts with athletic schedules requires strong time management, clear communication, and support from those at Coe. For consultant-athletes, this balance can be challenging, but it also offers opportunities to develop essential skills and strengthen connections to both academic and athletic life. Through careful planning and flexibility, us consultant-athletes, can thrive in both areas.